Blogs

Norwegian by Night

Submitted by ljones@northshi... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 12:11pm
Book List

Norwegian by Night (Hardcover)

By Derek Miller
$26.00
ISBN-13: 9780547934877
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 5/2013
Other Editions of this Title
A complex yet simple story, suspenseful but more intricate than a genre thriller, this original debut follows an elderly American living in Norway as he tries to save a youngster from his vicious father, who they both saw murder his mother. Beautifully written, thoughtful, tense, evocative. ~ Reviewed by Louise Jones

All the Dead Yale Men

Submitted by ljones@northshi... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 12:10pm
Book List

All the Dead Yale Men (Hardcover)

By Craig Nova
$26.00
ISBN-13: 9781582438283
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Counterpoint LLC, 5/2013
The sequel to Nova’s outstanding The Good Son follows the next generations of Mackinnons into the present. Nova writes with sensitivity and subtlety as he evokes the complex family ties that divide and unite. Powerful, witty, evocative of emotions and place. ~ Reviewed by Louise Jones

To Eat

Submitted by ljones@northshi... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 12:06pm
Book List

To Eat: A Country Life (Hardcover)

By Joe Eck, Wayne Winterrowd, Bobbi Angell
$25.00
ISBN-13: 9780374278328
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 6/2013
Other Editions of this Title
This final celebration of food and gardening (Winterrowd died in 2010 before the book was completed) is a lovely and moving tribute to companionable lives well-lived by the parteners who founded the garden design firm North Hill in southern Vermont and created the spectacular gardens there. ~ Reviewed by Louise Jones

Mo' Meta Blues

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 12:04pm
Book List

Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove (Hardcover)

By Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Ben Greenman
$26.00
ISBN-13: 9781455501359
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 6/2013
Beneath The Roots band-leader's towering 'fro is a powerful mind. His memoir is a thrilling journey around his own group, his record collection and collaborators ranging from D'Angelo to Prince. ~ Reviewed by Charles Bottomley

The Complete Don Quixote

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 12:03pm
Book List

The Complete Don Quixote (Hardcover)

By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Rob Davis
$27.50
ISBN-13: 9781906838652
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Selfmadehero, 5/2013
Beautifully drawn and always hilarious, this comic adaptation of the Man of La Mancha's misadventures remains true to the anarchic spirit of Cervantes' novel. A treat for fans and a great intro for young readers. ~ Reviewed by Charles Bottomley

Yes Is The Answer

Submitted by cbottomley@nort... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 12:02pm
Book List

Yes Is The Answer: (And Other Prog-Rock Tales) (Hardcover)

By Marc Weingarten, Tyson Cornell, Rick Moody
$24.00
ISBN-13: 9780985490201
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Rare Bird Books, 5/2013
Most people would rather shoot themselves than listen to Tarkus. This book could change all that. Funny, touching, enlightening essays on that whitest of music--prog rock. A trip to a topographic ocean worth taking. ~ Reviewed by Charles Bottomley

Blue Plate Special

Submitted by kfrank@northshi... on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 11:58am
Book List

Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites (Hardcover)

By Kate Christensen
$25.95
ISBN-13: 9780385536264
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: Doubleday, 7/2013
With austerity of language and a certain dispassionate attitude, Christensen takes the reader on a tour of her life. While cleverly linking various important highs and lows with her love of specific foods, she invites us to remember similar Proustian connections and enjoy this entertaining memoir. Bonus recipes add a nice spice! ~ Reviewed by Karen Frank

The Black Country

Submitted by agraves on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 11:57am
Book List

The Black Country (Hardcover)

By Alex Grecian
$26.95
ISBN-13: 9780399159336
Availability: Usually Ships from Warehouse in 1-5 days
Published: Putnam Adult, 6/2013
Other Editions of this Title
Inspector Walter Day from Scotland Yard is called to investigate the disappearance of three members of a family from a remote village in The Midlands. Blackheath is home to a number of superstitions, including tales about a creature that prowls the woods surrounding the town. The author, as he proved in his post Jack the Ripper story, The Yard, is a master at creating a palpable atmosphere of suspense. ~ Reviewed by Alden Graves

The ride into the sunset

Submitted by agraves on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 11:53am
Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape“If I had it all to do over, I’d rather have all the pain and danger and trouble than to be just a plain farmer.” -- Frank James

By 1876, the sun was setting in the Old West and even the outlaws were becoming aware of it. If their bad habits persisted, it was usually because life seemed so dull and uneventful after the shoot-em-up years began to wane. It wasn’t easy earning an honest living when the only thing a man knew how to do that was worth a damn was dishonest.

The country was beginning to recover from the devastation wrought by the Civil War, although old resentments still lingered, especially in the border states. When they exploded, they could still be as deadly as any battlefield.

Frank James was born in Kearney, Missouri in 1843 and his brother, Jesse, in 1847. Their father was a minister, who passed away when Frank was 12-years-old. As young men, the brothers had their share of scrapes with the law, but they embarked on their trail of infamy with a vengeance after a bungled raid on the James farm by Pinkerton operatives left their mother injured and their young half-brother dead. Jesse promptly murdered a neighboring farmer whom he thought had supplied information to the Pinkertons.

The violent and bloody road that Frank and Jesse set out upon eventually led them to a bank in Northfield, Minnesota. They had joined forces with the Younger brothers, Bob, Jim, and Cole, and some other ne’er-do-wells. Northfield’s bank hadn’t been the gang’s first choice to rob, but the layout of the town and the bank had been carefully scrutinized. It looked like an easy morning’s work.

It didn’t turn out that way. Northfield residents didn’t much care for the looks of the ruffians who rode into their town on the morning of September 7, 1876. When the James/Younger gang rode out, two of its members lay dead in the street and a cashier in the bank had been brutally -- and senselessly -- murdered.

The robbers rode away with a little over $26.00 for their efforts, but the brazen crime instigated the biggest manhunt since John Wilkes Booth had been cornered and killed 20 years earlier.

Mark Lee Gardner’s book, Shot All to Hell, is about the hunt for the perpetrators of the Northfield robbery. The book is written in a style that fits its subject like a pair of comfortable boots, scuffs and all. It has a lot of the good guys and bad guys aspects of a rousing Louis L’Amour western, complete with an evocative -- and slightly lurid -- title: Train robberies, bank hold-ups, outlaws on the run and posses just a few hours behind.

The adventure elements are played out amidst one of the most turbulent periods in American history and Mr. Gardner deftly incorporates the bloody times into his story of a band of men who contributed heavily to the blood-letting and, even more significantly, to the romantic aura that always evolve from the disreputable glamour of gunsmoke and lawlessness.

The author isn’t taking sides here. It is largely left to the reader to decide whether Frank and Jesse were worthy of any admiration. Mr. Gardner is simply telling a good story. Or, more precisely, the end of a story. Jesse’s violent demise was probably inevitable and provided an accelerant to the legend that was growing even while he was alive. Frank’s death serves as a reminder that history and inevitability are sometimes only passing acquaintances.

Shot All to Hell will be published by William Morrow in July, 2013.
Book List

Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape (Hardcover)

By Mark Lee Gardner
$27.99
ISBN-13: 9780061989476
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now
Published: William Morrow & Company, 7/2013
Other Editions of this Title

The Friedkin Connection

Submitted by agraves on Wed, 05/29/2013 - 10:39am
Book List

The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir (Hardcover)

By William Friedkin
$29.99
ISBN-13: 9780061775123
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper, 3/2013
Other Editions of this Title
A bumpy ride through the Hollywood maze. After starting in the mail room at a Chicago television station, Friedkin went on to direct two of the most influential films of the 1970s, The French Connection and The Exorcist. This memoir is an incisive look at a business that traditionally takes a dim view of idealistic notions about the kind of personal cinema that Friedkin admired and embraced. ~ Reviewed by Alden Graves
Syndicate content